Four months down the line, government says all is set to integrate Covid-19 vaccination exercise into all service delivery points in the country in order to reach out to many people with the vaccine.

Head of Health Promotion Unit in the Ministry of Health, Mavuto Thomas said by June this year, the country failed to reach its 70 percent target in the vaccination exercise.

He says Malawi only managed to reach out to 35 percent of the targeted population.

“There are a number of measures that will be introduced anytime soon, and for your information we are now integrating the Covid-19 vaccination into the routine programme whereby when offering other services, the Covid-19 Vaccine should also be available.” Thomas said.

He further said, “apart from that, we will also be reaching out to communities through our normal campaigns which we have been doing such as the vaccinate my village, door to door approach so that we really reach out to many people as possible.”

The remarks were made on Tuesday in Mponela during a training between Ministry of Health officials and the media on communicating risk in public health emergencies.

Meanwhile, AMREF Malawi Communications Officer Chisha Chola says despite WHO declaring Covid-19 as not being a public health concern, it is still key to contain it as it is currently affecting our communities.

“It is very important for us to realize that we need to contain the virus and also despite us containing it we also need to prepare ourselves for the next pandemic,” Chola said.

One of the journalists who attended the training Ntchindi Meki from The Nation newspaper said, “There are so many myths and misconceptions surrounding diseases such as Cholera and Corona in the country and the media has a huge role to play in diffusing such information by accurately and responsibly reporting on facts and not hearsay.”

“Fake news on such diseases has been worsened by social media and the mainstream media has to always stick to credible sources and avoid rumour mongering,” Meki added.

The two-day training on communicating risk in public health emergencies brought together health and media personnel from 7 districts of the country.